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Hyperbaric debate– Who should pay?

St. Mary’s Medical Center on Wednesday said it needs public funding to help keep its hyperbaric oxygen chamber open for emergencies for divers and carbon monoxide poisoning victims. The hospital said it no longer makes sense to spend $140,000 a year paying doctors and staff to be on call to treat an average of two emergencies a month.

The Health Care District of Palm Beach County on Wednesday said it will finish its 2007 fiscal year with nearly $17.5 million in “undesignated reserves.” Even district commissioners concede they don’t need more than $13 million.

Think St. Mary’s and the district should talk?

The district has for years been considered the sugar daddy of the Palm Beach County health care community because of its $180 million budget, hefty reserves and ability to tax property owners. Now, it’s likely to be called on again to help St. Mary’s, which is owned by a for-profit Tenet Healthcare Corp.

The district has its hands full trying to build a new $73 million hospital in the Glades, but there’s no question that district is in great financial shape. On Wednesday, it approved a $2.6 million increase in salaries for its employees and decided to cut its 2008 tax rate to county homeowners to it lowest rate ever.

Should the district step in to help keep the hyperbaric chamber open for emergencies?
Or should St. Mary’s parent company, Tenet Healthcare Corp., which had $9 billion in revenue last year, absorb the cost?